Rep. Stark Introduces Electronic Health Records Bill That Includes Incentives, Penalties for Providers
House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) on Monday introduced a bill (HR 6898) that would use Medicare payments to encourage health care providers to adopt health information technology systems, CQ Today reports. The bill would offer payment incentives to physicians who are early adopters of health IT, such as electronic health records, and impose penalties on providers that delay implementation or fail to switch to the technology (Armstrong, CQ Today, 9/15).
The bill would codify within HHS the position of health IT coordinator, a position created by executive order by President Bush in 2004. It also would create a federal advisory committee -- consisting of government and private sector health experts -- that would be charged with creating by 2011 a final version of standards governing interoperability, security and capitalizing on the clinical use of health IT. In addition, the bill would provide financial aid through a matching grant program to encourage not-for-profit groups and health care providers in rural, low-income and underserved regions to adopt health IT (Noyes, CongressDaily, 9/16).
The bill also would direct that open-source technology be developed and made available to health care providers at "a nominal cost." In addition, the bill would establish new privacy protections that ban the sale of patient health data and require pre-authorization before any data is used for marketing purposes. Fines of up to $1.5 million would be charged incrementally for privacy violations. According to CQ Today, the incentive measures in the Ways and Means bill would be similar to an electronic prescribing incentive program scheduled to begin next year, which was included in a new Medicare law (CQ Today, 9/15).
Physicians who meet the federal standards will be eligible for payments of up to $40,000 over five years, according to CongressDaily. Hospitals also could receive additional payments of up to several million dollars over five years if they meet the standards. The payments would decrease over time before being phased out completely. Penalties would then be levied on providers that have yet to meet the federal standards (CongressDaily, 9/16).
A Senate bill (S 1693), introduced by Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and a House bill (HR 6357), introduced by Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.), have been approved but do not include such penalties (CQ Today, 9/15).
Opinion Piece
Congress, in an effort to "save money while simultaneously expanding resources," should "encourage a public and private partnership to move toward digitized health records," Donald Blanchon -- CEO of the Washington, D.C., based Whitman Walker Clinic -- writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.
According to Blanchon, the health care industry "has lagged behind the rest of the economy in digitizing records," and although "this technology does better serve everyone -- including the under- and uninsured population -- many hospitals, clinics, and health centers lack the funds to implement health IT systems." Blanchon writes that it is an "unfortunate fact since right now, 20% of medical tests ordered every year are repeat tests because the results of the first tests were lost" and "nearly 100,000 patients die every year due to medical errors." Blanchon notes that a RAND study estimates that widespread adoption of health care IT would generate savings of up to $81 billion annually.
According to Blanchon, EHRs would "all but eliminate problems caused by, among other things, trying to read a stranger's handwriting" and will "cut down on overhead, forms and even insurance premiums for our doctors." He continues that it would "save time, which, when it comes to health care, patients and doctors can agree is even more valuable than money." EHRs "also expand the capabilities of specialty community clinics, focusing on diseases such as HIV/AIDS, allowing them to identify population health trends earlier, provide enhanced continuum of care and monitor compliance of treatment," he writes.
Blanchon continues, "We waste tens of billions of dollars every year on duplicative files, questionnaires, histories, referrals and visits," adding, "Medicare and Medicaid alone are rife with the waste, fraud and abuse of its record-keeping systems." According to Blanchon, by "passing health IT legislation this year, even with the distractions of an election, Congress will send a strong message to the entire country that it is looking for ways to stretch our dollars." He writes, "Health IT will save lives, save money, improve research and treatment and protect our privacy better than the current paper-based system" (Blanchon, Washington Times, 9/16).
